Numbers 11:29 “And Moses said to him, Are you envious for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit on them.”

Moses’ wish is also that of the Lord. When God promised to put His Spirit on all flesh, in Joel 2, the emphasis was that God’s people would be a “Prophetic People”.

Joel 2:28,29 “It will come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, you old men will dream dreams, and your young men with see visions; And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit.”

When the Apostle Peter quoted this text on the Day of Pentecost he cast an even stronger emphasis on Prophecy resulting from the giving of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:17,18 “And it will come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh: and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit: and they will prophesy.”

Prophets tell or reveal things about God. They display truth about God. They speak of the marvelous works of God.

All of God’s children are called to do this. Such a role is part of them being a chosen people for God.

1Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, to show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

We know from the example of God’s prophets in the Bible, that some prophecy comes as spoken words. Other prophecy comes by way of action and example.

Spoken prophecy reveals the mind of God and calls people to respond appropriately. It is also used to call something into existence on God’s behalf, by prophetic declaration. Just as God calls those things which are not as though they existed (Romans 4:17), and then the thing materializes or becomes real, so too God’s prophets spoke things which then resulted as real outcomes.

Prophecy by action also reveals the mind of God and calls people to a response. Actions of faith can result in calling things into existence.

A Prophetic People will both speak with Divine authority and also act on God’s behalf. This is the calling of God’s People.

Prophetic Call

There is currently a call emanating from heaven, drawing people to a place of obedience and the fear of God, which will accelerate the manifestation of a Prophetic People.

God is raising a new generation of awesome people, a Prophetic People, who know their God and act in profoundly powerful ways (Daniel 11:32). Many of these people are unseen. They are not on the platforms or the TV screens. They are not writing books or composing the latest songs. In due time they may do all of those things.

Right now, however, they are simply responding to God. They are feeling His heartbeat and His call on their life. They are doing the painful thing of yielding to God, sometimes at great cost. Others around them may be getting it easy, but these Prophetic People can’t get away with such things. They are under the mighty hand of God. They are being humbled right now, but in due time they will be raised up (1Peter 5:6).

Many of these people do not realize what God is doing. Some can only see that things have not turned out as they hoped. They are almost in despair because they have been plunged into challenges they never wanted to face. But those very people stand in a prophetic moment. How they respond will either lead to their frustration or the glory of God. Some will experience the loss of all they hold dear, but will then rise from the ruins with such grace and glory on their life that they will be a prophetic testimony in everything they do.

Many feel as if they are in no-man’s land. They can’t go back to where they were. The world doesn’t satisfy them any more. Yet they can’t tell where they are going. They are on an Abrahamic journey to a new land, having left their past, but having no clear idea of where they are going to end up.

THE PROPHETIC CALL

There is a prophetic Call going out across the earth, by the Spirit of God.

A trumpet has begun sounding in heaven, and although people can’t hear it audibly, something inside them is stirring and restless in response.

New horizons of destiny are opening. The skies are clearing. New kinds of journeying are now possible which were not available in the past. Just as a century ago the church tried to come to terms with things that were old yet new again, so too this new generation will struggle to get a solid grip and theology on what is happening.

Many will be awakened, but some will go off on tangents of the flesh and the devil’s direction. What we are about to see will be messy and unworthy of God’s Kingdom. Yet this is a move of God. This is the work of the Lord.

Have you been told, “It’s Your Life!” Well, don’t be fooled by that idea. Yes, you have a free will. You can make your own bed and you will have to lie on it. But that doesn’t make you your own property, nor your life your own life.

Part of the destruction of young lives is to disconnect them from real meaning and purpose. A clever way to do that is to suggest, “It’s your life, so do with it as you please!” If a person feels ownership of their life they think they are not as accountable for it. They only have to answer to themselves. “It’s my life, so I can waste it if I want to!”

At the same time they are disconnected from real meaning, purpose and fruitfulness, because they go off chasing butterflies rather than connecting with bigger things.

You are not your own! God owns you. God created you for His purposes. You are on the planet for divine reasons, and you are not supposed to miss them or mess them up. And what’s more, you impact others and must give account for that as well. If you cause someone else to stumble you will be dealt with severely by God. If you undermine someone else’s destiny and divine calling your will have to answer to God. If you marry someone and entangle them in your own life-wasting activities you will be held accountable for that.

Your life is not your own. You are not here to do as you please. You are a fully responsible person and you will be judged for ETERNITY for the things you do and say. There are HUGE consequences to your life. You will even have to account for every idle word you speak, let alone those big arguments, or those obvious times when you hurt others. Even your THOUGHTS are laid bare before God.

To make matters worse, God is watching your actions, words and intentions and will give you what you deserve based on what He sees. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, seeing what both the good and evil people do. God rewards those who trust in Him and he curses those who trust in themselves or who live life by man’s wisdom and standards.

The only thing you own is your will. But even there, you have no power to do anything but love God and be blessed or defy God and be cursed. You have no power over your life or the outcomes of anything you do. God holds you in His hand. God can bring you sunshine or rain. God will give you what you deserve – almost!

The good news is that God is patient and loving toward you, and will not give you everything you deserve as soon as you deserve it. He is patient with you, waiting for you to repent and get rid of the garbage in your life.

Give up your foolish self-focused ideas. Get into reality. You are a created being, put on the planet by the Living God, for His eternal purposes. God has an amazing destiny for you, but He requires you to trust Him, in faith and to go His ways, no matter how hard that turns out to be. God allows you to cop out, run away, rebel and be eaten up with foolishness. It’s your life to destroy if you are stupid enough to do so. But in reality it’s not your life to do with as you please. Your life is God’s life, created for His pleasure and purposes.

Get smart. Humble yourself before God and make Him Lord of your whole existence. He will put you through the ringer, giving you some touch challenges, to sort out the men from the boys, but the end result of going God’s way is incredibly beyond anything else you can ever hope to do with your days.

During a planning session last week my wife, Susan, caught a statement I made and made a Quote of it. What I said was, “TRANSFORM THE PARENT AND YOU TRANSFORM THE PARENTING!”

Many parents buy our materials or attend our programs hoping to gain some added trick, or key to dealing with their child. The more problems parents face the more ready they are to attend courses, visit websites, read books, etc.

Yet the answer is rarely found in some clever way of handling children. The key is actually found in a transformation process within the parent. The issue is not so much about the “doing” of parenting but the “being”.

Consider such instructions from the Bible as Paul’s directive to the church at Ephesus.

“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

Being “tender-hearted” is not a matter of learning how to do nice things for people. It involves the being of each person – the way they really are, not just the way they act.

The same is true in parenting. A good parent is not someone who has learned a bunch of psychological tricks to use on their child, or a set of strict rules which will work well. A good parent is one who has the right heart toward their child and who carries a level of internal commitment to God and their family, prompting them to make wise choices and create good outcomes.

So, when we “transform” the parent, the automatic result is that the parenting is transformed too. If we make the parent more caring, more loving or more humble, those changes will be reflected in the way they interact with their child.

The most important place to be transformed is the “heart”. The heart is the “heart of the matter”. The way we respond from our heart dictates everything else. If we have a proud heart, or our heart carries jealousy, anger, shame, selfishness, or any such thing, our whole being and the words we speak will reflect it.

Parents, I encourage and challenge you to open your heart to God. Ask Him to reveal to you what is in your heart that needs to be changed. Ask Him to change your heart. Ask Him to give you a heart that is not hard like stone, but is tender and sensitive to Him and others. Your heart is the part of you God is most concerned about.

Take careful note of what God wants to happen to every parent. God prompted one of His prophets to speak about something very important to God – that the “heart” of parents would turn toward their children and that the heart of the children would turn to the parents.

“And he will turn the heart of the fathers to their children and the heart of the children to their fathers, or I will come and curse the earth.” Malachi 4:6.

Do you want to transform your parenting? Then make it your aim to have a transformed heart!

Sarsha & Dijon are deeply in love. She desperately needs him to help her after a troubled childhood. He is totally captivated by the idea of being her troubadour. He is going to make her happy and she is going to complete him. The fantasy has begun and they eagerly marry so they can live their dream.

Many irresponsible months later, after notching up a string of giddy moments and experimental exploits Sarsha and Dijon are going to have a baby. It is one big adventure and it’s just SO exciting to them both. This is their greatest achievement and the fruit of their delirious love for each other.

But after a wrenching year of incredible duress the couple are struggling to maintain their marriage. They DEFINITELY will NEVER have another child. Babies are just SO demanding. The impact of the baby on their free-wheeling lifestyle has been traumatic. The load placed on their flimsy relationship has almost been to breaking point.

What went wrong? Why didn’t the baby fit into the fantasy? Why did the bubble of delusion ever have to be burst? Why couldn’t the baby just do what the parents wanted it to do? Why couldn’t they just continue their silly game with a baby as part of the picture?

What went wrong for this couple is that Reality hit. Their foolishness did not dictate reality, but simply hid their eyes from it. Giddy giggles are not the stuff on which real life is built. Shallow personalities and empty values are straw, no matter what they dress up as.

This couple was not ready for reality, but reality is what they had. Over the next few years they will both mature, even if painfully and haltingly. They will finally come to the place where they see other things than their fantasies. Hopefully that day will come, for their sakes and for the sake of their baby.

Immaturity and romantic fantasies do not prepare people for parenting. And in our highly peer-streamed culture few young adults have shared in the care and nurture of babies and children. Many young mums have never held a baby before their own. Many young dads are ill-prepared for the invasion of a young dependent baby into their home.

Children are a blessing from God and are God’s reward. Yet many people reel in shock under the unexpected impact of a baby in their life. The problem is not with the baby, but with the way our culture prepares people for reality. The “happily ever after” stories and self-indulgent values rob many of reality and undermine their chances of a healthy start to marriage and family.

The reality check which comes from a first child and the work-load resulting from a growing family are what contribute to a person’s maturity. I have heard it said of a young man and woman at times, they have much going for them but will be so much better value once they have been married and started a family. The experience of facing realities which marriage and babies force upon them brings out a maturity and strength that is needed.

I encourage those who have not yet started a family to spend time with those who have. I encourage those who have young children to actively involve children, youth and young adults in the experience of caring for the child. These experiences help bring reality into the understanding, and protect people from the fantasies that would otherwise overwhelm them.

On my first visit to Malaysia I spoke at a businessmen’s breakfast and shared about God’s call for men to be men. A learned man in the audience was so touched by my message that he asked me to take his speaking engagement at a luncheon that day and to share the same message.

One point I made strongly in that message was about being “nailed in place”. This issue comes from places where men were commissioned to be men. It is used when David commissioned Solomon to be king. It occurred when God called Joshua to replace Moses.

The actual term in the English translations is the call to “be strong”. The original Hebrew word, chazaq, means to “fasten” something in place or to take hold of something with no intention of letting it go. I use the term “nailed in place” to emphasize that real men, men who are fulfilling their godly destiny, do not change. Real men are nailed in place in terms of their commitment, faithfulness, determination to trust God, choice of values, and so on.

Western culture’s values are constantly shifting. Godly men do not change their values with the culture. What was evil and repulsive thirty years ago, is still evil and repulsive to them. What they stood for when they were full of zeal, is what they still stand for today.

Sadly, Christian men have allowed standards to crumble around them. What they once thought inappropriate, they now allow. What was once deemed offensive is now tolerated, or even promoted.

Western culture has slid downhill in succeeding generations because men who should have been nailed in place just kept stepping backwards with each new onslaught. Rather than holding ground they gave ground. Instead of seizing and fastening upon unchangeable things they went along for the ride and never regained the things they gave up.

It is time for a new generation of men to rise. It is time for men who will be “strong”, because they have fastened themselves onto things that they will not give up. It is time for such men to not only stand firm, but to work together to build stability and godly depth into their society.

I expect, however, that repentance might be a good place to start. Something like, “Lord God, forgive me for being weak in the knees and for compromising things which You want me to hold firm.”

Doing business with God is a powerful way to become strong. Then you can lend a hand to others who are looking for a mentor – someone who will stand up for what they believe.